Sunday, April 10, 2016 • Stevensville, MD • Course Map
In an interesting twist on the whole “26.2”/”13.1″ distance concept, the runners in Maryland’s weekly Kent Island Running Group have created their version of a marathon and half marathon, one that makes a virtue of necessity so to speak on this small island along the eastern shore Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay.
What they’ve done is taken the two distances and translated them into their metric counterparts — so that instead of running 26.2 miles or 13.1 miles, runners will trek 26.2 kilometers or 13.1 kilometers in Stevensville’s all-new Kent Island Metric Marathon & Half Metric Marathon, which makes its 5th annual running in mid-April 2015.
The result is that runners in the full metric marathon will run 16.3 miles while those running the half metric marathon will run 8.15 miles along Kent Island’s roads and its South Island Trail, the paved biking, running and walking trail that runners will follow as they make their way through the island’s marshland habitat between Matapeake State Park and Romancoke Wharf County Park, near the southern tip of the island.
Runners follow an out-and-back course for the race that starts and finishes at the island’s Matapeake State Park on Romancoke Road just off Route 8.
From there, they follow the trail all the way down to the mile 4 marker (at the intersection of Queens Colony High Road and Romancoke Road), where they then turn around and head back toward the school, those running the full metric marathon continue on, turning right onto the neighborhood along Queens Colony High Road and then, once they wind their way around the neighborhood, head back onto the South Island Trail for the stretch to Romancoke Wharf Park.
As the trail continues southward and eastward toward Romancoke Wharf, runners should keep their eyes out for any of the island’s abundant coastal wildlife, as runners have been known to spot eagles, ospreys, deer and turkeys out along the flat marshland trails and roads.
Once runners hit the turnaround, they then head back northward along the trail, all the way back up to the middle school for the race finish.
Race Weather & Climate
Nestled along the northern half of Kent Island on Maryland’s eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, roughly 35 miles southeast of Baltimore and about 45 miles east of Washington, D.C., Stevensville typically sees mild to moderately warm weather in April, which has brought record temperatures as low as 2°F (in 1982) and as high as 98°F (in 2002).
On race day (April 10), the average low is 46ºF and the average high is 66ºF.
Past Results
- 2015 Kent Island Half Metric Marathon Results
- 2014 Kent Island Half Metric Marathon Results
- 2013 Kent Island Half Metric Marathon Results
- 2012 Kent Island Half Metric Marathon Results
- 2011 Kent Island Half Metric Marathon Results
Course Map
See the race route map for the Kent Island Metric Half Marathon here.
Starting Time
- 8:00 AM – full metric
- 8:10 AM – half metric
Fees
See race website
Registration
To reserve your spot in the 2016 running of Stevensville’s Kent Island Metric Marathon or Half Marathon race, register online at Active.com here.
Official Race Website
Facebook Conversations
Ever run in the Kent Island Half Metric Marathon? Share your impressions here, or post your review in the Comments below.
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